“A strong commitment to pro bono work has been part of Cleary’s culture ever since the firm was founded. We encourage our lawyers around the world to use their skills to make a difference in their communities and beyond.”

Ward Greenberg

Partner, Frankfurt

Pro Bono and Community Service

Cleary Gottlieb is dedicated to improving the communities in which we live and work, leveraging its international network to assist pro bono clients domestically and across the globe.

We believe pro bono work should be a mindful choice, one that expresses both personal and collective interests. So rather than make pro bono work mandatory at Cleary, we fully support the voluntary legal efforts of all of our lawyers.

Attorneys and stagiaires in Cleary’s German offices work on a wide range of German and multinational pro bono projects. In Germany, the firm has been working primarily on projects relating to the ongoing refugee crisis.

Among other endeavors, attorneys have the opportunity to receive training in asylum and residency law, write legal memoranda, advise asylum seekers and entities supporting refugees, and conduct research on the wider sociological context of the crisis. We are involved with a number of pro bono organizations in Germany, and are active contributors to the wider pro bono community.

In 2017, The American Lawyer named Cleary the winner of its Global Pro Bono Dispute of the Year award for our work on the International Death Penalty Project. The firm received the 2016 American Bar Association Pro Bono Publico Award and earned a spot on The National Law Journal’s 2016 Pro Bono Hot List. And Law360 named Cleary a 2015 Pro Bono Firm of the Year and a Pro Bono All Star—an honor accorded to firms appearing on the Pro Bono Firms of the Year list at least three times since 2010.

We approach our pro bono work exactly as we approach our paying cases: we put the client’s needs front and center. A supervising partner at the helm of each project ensures that we leverage the full resources of the firm to solve complex legal problems, provide assistance with social issues, and add value to all required client services.